Today's Event – 23rd September 2021

• 1641 – The Merchant Royal, carrying a treasure of over 100,000 pounds of gold (worth over £1 billion today),is lost at sea off Land's End.

• 1642 – The first commencement exercises occur at Harvard College.

• 1821 – Tripolitsa, Greece, is captured by Greek rebels during the Greek War of Independence.

• 1845 – The Knickerbockers Baseball Club, the first baseball team to play under modern rules, is founded in New York.

• 1846 – Astronomers Urbain Le Verrier, John Couch Adams, and Johann Gottfried Galle collaborate on the discovery of Neptune.

• 1868 – Grito de Lares ("Lares Revolt") occurs in Puerto Rico against Spanish rule.

• 1889 – Nintendo Koppai (Later Nintendo Company, Limited) is founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda.

• 1905 – Norway and Sweden sign the Karlstad Treaty, peacefully dissolving the Union between the two countries.

• 1911 – Pilot Earle Ovington makes the first official airmail delivery in America under the authority of the United States Post Office Department.

• 1913 – Roland Garros of France becomes the first to fly in an airplane across the Mediterranean (from St. Raphael in France to Bizerte, Tunisia).

• 1932 – The unification of Saudi Arabia is completed.

• 1938 – The Czechoslovak army is mobilized in response to the Munich Agreement.

• 1962 – The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts opens in New York City.

• 1983 – Saint Kitts and Nevis joins the United Nations.

• 1986 – Houston Astros' Jim Deshaies sets a record, striking out the first eight batters he faces against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

• 2002 – The first public version of the web browser Mozilla Firefox ("Phoenix 0.1") is released.

• 2019 – The British travel company, Thomas Cook Group, declares bankruptcy, leaving employees without jobs and 600,000 customers stranded abroad. Hotels throughout the world are stuck with £338 million (U.S. $415 million) in unpaid bills

National Events- 

•  31k covid cases recorded in India in the last 24 hours

•  An unnamed militant killed in an encounter in Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir

•  PM Modi arrived in the US to attend the Quad meeting and address UNGA

•  The Jammu & Kashmir administration headed by Lt-Gov Manoj Sinha on Wednesday issued orders of dismissal of six more employees, three each from Kashmir and Jammu divisions for having terror links and working as Over Ground Workers (OGW). 

• India's first-ever mosque and the oldest in the sub-continent is all set to welcome back devotees and the general public after regaining its past glory and grandeur. The classic beauty and humble style of the "Cheraman Juma Masjid", dating back to 629 AD, was restored after a painstaking renovation and conservation process.

International Events- 

•  Nepal’s newly-appointed Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka said on Wednesday that he will work towards maintaining friendly and balanced relations with India and China and forge national consensus with political parties on the matters of foreign relations. Khadka, 72, was sworn in as the Minister for Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.

•  When Prime Minister Narendra Modi sits down on Friday with President Joe Biden and Prime Ministers Yoshihide Suga of Japan and Scott Morrison of Australia for their in-person summit -- the first with Biden -- they will face a world with a new set of complexities -- but also a higher level of intent by the US to involve itself in the region.

• A simple nasal spray of tiny antibodies produced by llamas could provide a new frontline treatment against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to a study.

• The number of new COVID-19 cases continued to fall last week, with 3.6 million new cases reported globally, down from 4 million new infections the previous week, the World Health Organization said. Last week’s drop marked the first substantial decline for more than two months, with falling COVID-19 cases in every world region.

•  FBI Director Christopher Wray has warned that the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan could inspire a new wave of extremism in the US, The Hill reported.

Job alerts-

• Karnataka High Court Jobs for District Judge Posts and other posts. Last date 21 October 2020

•  Medical and Health Recruitment Board (MHRB),Assam Jobs for Lecturer and Demonstrator Posts, and other posts. Last date 05 October 2020

• Central Railway Jobs for Junior Clerk and Senior Clerk Posts and other posts. Last date 05 October 2020

• Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission, Hamirpur (HPSSC) Jobs for Steno Typist, Steno, JE and other posts. Last date 25 October 2020

• Bihar state university service commission (BSUSC)Jobs for University Teacher (Assistant Teacher) and other posts. Last date 02 November 2020

Sports-

•  Manchester United crash out of the Premier League 2021

•  Former West Indies cricketer Marlon Samuels has been charged under the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) anti-corruption code, the world governing body said in a statement on Wednesday. Samuels has been charged by the ICC on behalf of the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) for breaching four codes of their Anti-Corruption Code for Participants of the T10 League (the ‘Code’).

• Cricket West Indies (CWI) chief executive officer (CEO) Johnny Grave said on Wednesday that he will be speaking with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) later this week about security when West Indies will tour Pakistan in December.

•  Luis Suarez scored two headers in the last 12 minutes to give Atletico Madrid a 2-1 win away to Getafe and take them momentarily to the top of La Liga.

•  Shreyas Iyer says he relished captaining the Delhi Capitals in the IPL but completely respects the team management's decision to let Rishabh Pant stay as leader of the pack till the end of the 2021 season

Awards and honors-

•  Seema G. Nair awarded Mother Teresa Award by Kerala Government

Technology-

•  Zomato and Swiggy approach the Indian government for clarification on GST

•  Google Chrome 94 has been released

•  Reliance Retail to start selling cosmetics online

Economy – 

•  India most likely to block Chinese investment for LIC IPO

•  As per sources, OYO Hotels is to file for a 1.2 billion dollars IPO next week

•  The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has lowered India’s growth projections for the current financial year by a percentage point to 10 percent, mainly due to disruptions in economic activity caused by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

•  The 30-share Sensex was trading 487.42 points or 0.83 percent higher at 59,414.75. Similarly, Nifty surged 142.50 points or 0.81 percent to 17,689.15 in initial deals.

• Shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited on Wednesday zoomed 25 percent after the announcement of a merger with Sony Pictures.

Environment –

•  Assam government burned 2400 rhino horns to stop illegal poachers

Local –

•  30 people booked for rape of 14-year-old in Dombivli (Maharashtra)

•  West Bengal targets 1 crore vaccine jabs

•  Two men were attacked by cow vigilantes in Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)

•  1365 cases of covid recorded in Amaravati (Uttar Pradesh)

• 3.96 lakhs people got vaccine jab in Madhya Pradesh

Person in News – 

•  Former Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal has died here following prolonged illness, officials said on Thursday.

GK – 

In which year, was the APEDA Act was passed in Parliament?

[A] 1970
[B] 1980
[C] 1985
[D] 1995

“Aadhaar based e-KYC”, “self KYC” and “OTP-based conversion” are a part of which reforms initiated by the Government of India?

[A] LPG Reforms
[B] Power Sector Reforms
[C] MSME Reforms
[D] Telecom Reforms

“VR Chaudhari”, who is seen in the news recently, is associated with which organization?

[A] ISRO
[B] Indian Air Force
[C] ONGC
[D] Indian Oil

Which organization is set to conduct ‘Sailing regattas and Sail parade’ to commemorate Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav?

[A] Indian Army
[B] Indian Navy
[C] Shipping Corporation of India
[D] Dredging Corporation of India

Which Ministry in association with UGC has organized a Webinar on “Ensuring Inclusive Governance: Making Every Person Matter”?

[A] Ministry of Finance
[B] Ministry of Social Justice
[C] Ministry of Women Development
[D] Ministry of Education